


Lexington and Concord

by themonkeycabal



Series: Run 'Verse [20]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thor (Movies)
Genre: Darcy Lewis is Tony Stark's Daughter, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-07
Updated: 2015-08-07
Packaged: 2018-04-13 12:00:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,906
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4521162
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/themonkeycabal/pseuds/themonkeycabal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Peace the Darcy Lewis way -- start a war to stop a war.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Lexington and Concord

"Keep your arms straight."

"It helps to give a little in the elbows."

"You'll be unbalanced as you gain loft."

"I said a little. You want a little, it's like shock absorbers. Tuck them close to your body, that'll help with stability. Otherwise you're going to look like this idiot the first time he took off."

"Like you actually know what I looked like. You were drunk as hell."

In a broad, green field next to the old Stark facility in upstate New York, Darcy, Tony, and Rhodey stood in a heavily armored semi-circle. After her run-in with _real_ SHIELD, and despite Tony's pride at how she extricated herself from that situation by both telling them off and being arrogant enough to dare them to hold her, he decided that today was the day Darcy would to learn to fly her Iron Daughter (tm Tony) suit. Well, it was _supposed_ to be the day. Tony and Rhodey had been arguing about the best way to fly for half an hour. 

"Which of us is actually the pilot, here?" Rhodey asked. 

"Uh, yeah, hello," Tony snorted. "I'm actually a pilot, too."

Darcy groaned and put a gauntleted hand over her face. "Okay, we're all _actually_ pilots here."

Tony scowled and pointed a finger at her. "I'm still pissed you didn't let me teach you."

Darcy huffed and pointed at Rhodey. "I'm still pissed _he_ didn't teach me."

"Okay, and I'm still pissed you didn't join the Air Force," Rhodey fired back at Darcy with his own finger point. "We had an agreement."

"I was eleven!" Darcy exclaimed. 

"Wait a minute, wait a minute." Tony waved his arms, hydraulics hissing and whining to match his darkening temper. "What the hell sort of agreement? What were you doing with my daughter?"

"She liked the big transpo planes," Rhodey started to explain.

"I still like the big transpo planes," Darcy put in. "Dad, we need a C-17."

Tony rolled his eyes. "We don't need a C-17."

"I think we do." She smiled at him. "Phil has a C-17."

His eyes narrowed. "Agent can— you know what? No. Still no." He turned back to Rhodey and glowered. "What was this agreement?"

"It was just that when she joined the Air Force she promised me she'd make sure I was there when she told you." Rhodey said with a stubborn, outthrust jaw. "It was payback for years of putting up with _you_."

"You tried to recruit my eleven-year old daughter? As _payback_?" Tony's face twisted in outrage and they could all hear the whine of his gauntlet RTs powering up. 

"It wasn't like she was going to join then. And the joining wasn't payback, just the telling you part. And she could only join when she graduated college," Rhodey said in a rush, putting up his hands in a defensive position. "I was very clear on the need to go to college first."

"Well, I think you're all nuts," Happy grumbled from his spot under the tent shelter set up at the edge of the field. Summer was relentless, the air smothering them all like a thick, hot syrup. Happy was holding a portable fan in one hand, and angling it to catch the air from a large mist cooling fan. 

The grumbling was just loud enough for Tony to hear, and he turned to face his former bodyguard, sour grumpiness finding a new target. "How ya doing over there, Hogan? Plenty of shade? You want me to get you a Mojito, maybe? Or something fruity with an umbrella? Pretty girl to feed you grapes?"

"No, thanks," Happy said with a stiff smile. "I'm fine."

"Uhhuh. You sure? I mean it's no problem. Darcy, find him some grapes."

"Dad, leave Happy alone." 

Happy smiled at her and nodded. "I don't know about those two jokers, but your suit looks real nice, Darce. _You_ look like a real hero. Gonna be an Avenger?"

"Not my jam," she told him, a firm head shake to emphasize how little she wanted to get her ass knocked out of the sky as often as her father did. 

"My daughter's a SHIELD flunky," Tony groaned. "Where did I go wrong?"

"You want a list?" Rhodey grunted.

Darcy's suit wasn't as big and bulky as Tony or Rhodey's, being herself slighter of frame, but it was just as heavily armored. And while not _quite_ as weaponized, it was hardly a disarmed version of the suit. Tony would be damned if he was going to let her out in the armor without a wide variety of ways to defend herself. The real struggle came when it was time to pick a color scheme. Tony was adamant and vehement about his refusal to paint it green and purple — but she mostly only suggested that to yank his chain — and he tried to get her into a variation on his red and gold. Darcy thought about the colors for a long time, really truly considered it, and in the end decided that if her path was, as he said, SHIELD flunky, then she ought to stick with serviceable colors and settled on SHIELD's dark blue and charcoal in a matte finish. 

The colors weren't flash, but she didn't want to be flash, she wanted to blend. Obscurity and inconspicuousness were her gifts; the suit should play to that as much as possible. Tony bitched and moaned, but she explained how she wanted to fix SHIELD right, and if she was going to do that, then she had to be all in. And, heck, maybe seeing somebody in SHIELD colors in the armor would be a morale boost. And there was the bit of her that was still plenty steamed about _real_ SHIELD, so maybe it was also a little bit of a power-play. They knew where she stood, and by wrapping herself in the armor, she would be directly challenging their power. Maybe steamed wasn't the right word, more like very nearly irate. Once she could fly, she'd go buzz their carrier. 

Tony eventually relented on the colors so long as they compromised by balancing the SHIELD logo on one shoulder with an Avengers one on the other. Tony wasn't above a power-play himself. 

Now they stood in that green field, three human-shaped fighter jets, ready for war. Or ready to teach her to fly the damned thing already. 

"Today, guys? Maybe?" Darcy called, breaking into Tony and Rhodey's next argument. 

"Yeah, yeah," Tony said and waved her over to stand next to him. "You'll power up the boot repulsors slowly, use the gauntlets for stability." He grabbed her arms and positioned them near her sides. "Take it easy."

"The flaps are all reactive, so don't worry about it," Rhodey put in. "When you shift your weight, they'll respond with you."

"Like riding a bike." Tony flipped her face-plate down and stood back, grinning at her. "Hap's right, you look like a real hero."

"I am the night, I am vengeance, I am … Batman," she pronounced with a throaty growl, which she assumed sounded awesome through the suit's vocalizers. 

"I said a _real_ one." Tony gave her a look, then slapped his own face-plate into place. Rhodey followed and they both prepped to take off with her. 

"Hey, Happy," Tony called. "While she's flying, set up those targets for us, would you?"

"Sure thing, boss," Happy said with a sloppy salute from his lawn chair. 

Take off was a little rocky; she wobbled from side to side until she got a hang of centering her weight. It felt weird, not unlike trying to balance on top of an over-inflated ball, but once she got it, it really was like riding a bike. Small muscle twitches and the armor responded like it was a part of her. The trio took careful flight in a slow, almost graceful curve up into the sky; Rhodey and Tony hovering nearby while she got her bearings and shook off the wobbles. 

"Little nudge to the side and the thrusters for yaw," Tony instructed. "Go for the body twist for pitch. But you don't need much."

"Open 'er up, Little Bug," Rhodey said, a laugh in his voice. "Show us what you've got."

"Call me Little Bug again and I'm willing to find out how Natasha's training translates to mid-air," she muttered, concentrating on getting a feel for the streaming information on her HUD, while keeping herself steady in the buffeting breezes ten-thousand feet above the ground. 

Rhodey laughed at her, unafraid. 

"Jarvis, check ATC," Tony requested. 

"Area clear below twenty-thousand feet for ten miles as requested, sir."

"Excellent. Okay, kid, level out and lets go for a spin around the block."

They stayed up for over an hour. Rhodey and Tony putting her through her paces: a roll here, a dive there, a high arc up to the ceiling, full-throttle and a sharp stop to hover in mid-air. 

"I feel," Darcy managed past a fit of giggles she couldn't help, being far too giddy with exhilaration after a steep, screaming dive down towards the ground, "like I should totally be looking for the snitch."

Tony laughed. "Armored quidditch. I love it. I'll make one."

"Now the fun part," Rhodey said, pulling them back on track. "Landing."

"Trust the suit," Tony advised. "You've got two options — one, cut power and reengage right before the ground to slow you. Two, go low and cut power a few inches above the ground. Kinda think it's one of those things you just have to get a feel for." 

"Yeah," Rhodey agreed. "You'll get it pretty quick, but maybe the first time, go in low and slow and ease off the repulsors and then cut power."

"Taking off in reverse," Tony said.

Following Rhodey's instructions, she eased herself down then killed the repulsors. She misjudged the distance, though, and was a couple feet up; the weight of the suit made a pretty decent dent in the ground and she stumbled a little, but came out of it standing. 

"Better than my first landing in the suit," Rhodey said, clapping her on the shoulder with a heavy metal clang.

"Better than mine," Tony admitted.

"You killed the Cobra when you landed," Darcy grumbled. "I'm still mad about that."

"Get over it, kid," her dad huffed. "I made you a suit and now I'll let you blow shit up with it. How's that?"

"Alright," she sighed dramatically. "Forgiven. Blowing shit up is my favorite hobby."

"That's my girl," he crowed with a laugh. 

"Man, you two are going to be horrible for property damage," Rhodey sighed. 

Happy came out from under his tent to give Darcy a once over. "How was it?"

"Hella fun, once I got the hang of it," Darcy reported, flipping up her face-plate and giving him a broad grin. 

"You guys are all nuts," Happy said again, but with a little chuckle. 

"How we doing, Hap?" Tony asked. 

"All set up." He waved a hand across the field to an obstacle course of targets. In Tony Stark's world targets included standard things like lines of tin cans and big barrels weighted with sandbags, but also cars, and walls, and decommissioned military equipment.

"Is that a missile launcher?" Darcy asked with a laugh.

"Yes," Tony said, his tone daring her to complain.

"Awww. Best dad ever." Then she looked over the field and gave Happy an impressed look. "How'd you do that so quick?"

"Ah," Happy shuffled his feet and scratched at the back of his neck. "Had some help. It was all ready to go, just had to tell the guys where to position it. Don't know how sturdy those walls are," he admitted with a frown. "They didn't have much time to get them dug in."

"That's okay," Darcy said. "It's the thought that counts."

"Okay," Rhodey said, coming up next to her and pointing to the line of cans on a set of sawhorses. "Let's work in your fine targeting."

For another hour the duo instructed Darcy on the art of destruction, Rhodey channeling his inner drill sergeant and Tony cackling madly while shouting "hit it again, kid!" They capped training off with a game of tag through the wreckage, repulsors on low. Darcy lost, and she lost badly, knocked down a few times, and even bouncing through a brick wall at one point. When she had enough getting batted around, she tapped out and Tony and Rhodey continued to try to pound the ever-loving crap out of each other. Darcy tossed her helmet onto the soft grass under the tent and dropped heavily to the ground next to Happy and watched them.

"Boys," she said with a hearty laugh. 

"Crazy," Happy agreed. 

She nodded and leaned back on her elbows. For as responsive as the armor was, it was also a lot of moving and twisting her body in a way she wasn't used to. She was exhausted and certain to be sore as hell the next day. But, it was fun. This was the most fun she and Tony had had together in ages. So much life and drama got in the way of daddy/daughter time; she missed it, and to have some of that back for even one day was a joy, and healed a lot of the wear and tear that wore on her lately. 

"Thanks for your help today, Hap," Darcy told the man, looking up at him with a fond smile. She also hadn't seen much of Happy, and she missed her big, sturdy bodyguard-slash-teddy bear who shadowed her as a child, making sure she always felt safe and steady in the Stark side of her life. 

"Sure, no problem. Your dad just wants you to be safe."

"Yeah, I know. Nice of you to come all the way to New York. You're all big time head of security guy now."

"Yeah, well," he mumbled. "I … uh." Clearing his throat, he shifted in the lawn chair, the wood and plastic groaning. "I gotta say, I'm real sorry about how you got kidnapped."

She snorted. "Which time?"

He frowned, a deep, profoundly unhappy frown. "Uh … by Hydra."

"Okay," Darcy said slowly. "Why are you sorry about that?"

"You were doing work for Pepper. It was Stark Security's job to keep you safe. We let you down."

"You really didn't. And it wasn't work so much as I had the day off and I drove up here to drop off papers. Ninety-nine percent of the time that's a pretty low risk job, really."

"Yes, we did let you down," he argued back, bulldog stubborn. 

"If you'd been there, they'd have taken you, too. Or killed you," she said with a shiver as that dark image splashed across her mind. "I'm glad you weren't."

"I'm not. Maybe they'd've killed me, but I might have bought you time to get away," Happy said, giving her a firm but somehow wounded look. Like by not getting himself killed, she'd stolen something from him. 

"Aww, Happy. Come on." She flinched as Rhodey flew backwards through the air and hit the ground with a bone-rattling thud. The suits were surprisingly comfortable and had plenty of state-of-the-art of cushioning and the armor dispersed a lot of force, but no amount of cushioning could entirely soften the blow of the ground. "You couldn't have known—"

"It's my job to assess threats," he grunted and glowered at the ground. "We ought to've known that Hydra was watching."

"Sure, because you're all psychic now." Sitting up, she rested a gauntleted hand on his arm. "You taught me how to take care of myself. Before anybody else, you did. And I don't just mean throwing a punch, though, let me say, Bucky's way impressed by my boxing skills. I'll get him to tell you about the time I punched out a Hydra banker. He likes that story."

Happy offered her a weak smile. "When am I gonna get to meet this guy?"

"I don't know," Darcy shrugged. Once again, too much drama, too much _stuff_ , not enough time, and the awkward reality that bringing Bucky home for a family dinner would probably result in some sort of actual catastrophe. "But, anyway, look, you told me once that there was always going to be somebody bigger, so I had to be smarter and meaner. I never forgot that. And when Hydra had me, that's one of the things I held on to. Maybe you weren't there, but I'm here because of you. So, don't beat yourself up." She looked him over as he worked his jaw and watched Tony dive behind the wreckage of a mini-van. "Is that why you came out here? Because this was where I was coming when I got kidnapped?"

Happy shrugged, uncomfortable and a touch bashful. "I don't know. Just bad memories, I guess."

"Yeah. Pretty crappy." She patted his arm again then leaned back once more. "But, we're all still here."

"Yeah," he agreed quietly. "Plus, I wanted to see you in your armor." 

Darcy laughed. "Pretty sweet."

"Only you guys," he said, shaking his head and patting her awkwardly on the shoulder. "But, yeah, pretty slick."

Tony and Rhodey finished pounding on each other and wandered back over to them, face-plates up, laughing. 

"You need a call sign," Tony said abruptly. 

"She's got one," Rhodey said with a snicker. "Little Bug."

"I might be exhausted right now, but when I can move again, I will make you pay," Darcy warned with a dark snarl. 

"Bring it, Little Bug," he said with a cocky grin, holding out his arms.

"I'm serious," she said, pouting a little that her threats never worked against Rhodey. "And, if you tell Barton that name, you and I are through. Done. Finished. The end. No joke."

"Man, alright, alright. You're no fun." He gave her his own pout and she rolled her eyes. "But you'll always be Little Bug to me."

"Dad, make him stop," she groaned and dropped back flat on the ground. 

"You need a call sign," he repeated. "Don't worry. I'll come up with something."

"Oh God." She dropped her arm over her face and winced at the cold, unyielding metal digging into her forehead. 

"Come on, kid. Up and at 'em. Who's up for dinner?"

"Sorry, man," Rhodey said with a shake of his head. "I've gotta get back. You did good today, Darce." He held out a hand to pull her to her feet. "We'll train some more another day."

"Sure," she said, standing with a groan. "Thanks for the help."

"No problem at all." He grinned and stepped back, clearing the tent. "I'll talk to you guys later." And then he was off; a red, gray, and blue blur into the early evening sky. 

"Hap? How about you?" Tony asked, putting a hand on Darcy's shoulder. 

"Nah. I'm good," Happy waved him off, standing and starting to fold the lawn chair. "I'll take care of all this. You two go on."

"You sure?"

"Yeah, you probably want to fly back anyway."

Tony looked down at Darcy, eyebrow raised. "What do you say?"

"Well, we're in our suits and all," Darcy said with a modest shrug. "We might as well."

"You're a natural." Grinning at her, he gave her shoulder a solid thump. "Of course, you get that from me."

Darcy laughed and turned to give Happy a farewell. "Catch you later, Happy?"

He handed her her helmet and nodded. "Yeah, I'll be down in the city for a few days. But, hey, come visit California more often, would you?"

"I'll make a point," she promised, wondering if life would actually let her keep that promise. 

Her second take off was more confident than the first, and Tony led her up into the sky. Side by side, Tony encouraged her to put more into it, and they darted through the darkening blue at a crisp pace, just shy of Mach 1. Twenty minutes later they started their approach to the Tower. This was more nerve-wracking than approaching the ground. The building looked so small from a distance, and then closed on them almost more quickly than she was able to judge. 

"Trust the HUD, Darce," Tony murmured. "You've got it. And it's not like you can't catch yourself if you miss. You're fine. You've got this all the way."

"Yeah, yeah, I do," she muttered back, concentrating on the platform. Tony was nice enough to guide them to the quinjet platform instead of the balcony. She was so not ready for the balcony. 

"There you go," he said. "Ease back, straighten up." She threw her weight back, pushing the suit from horizontal to vertical, stabilizing herself with thrusters and gauntlet RTs. "That's it. Looking good. Nudge forward a little. You've got it. Cut power."

Darcy dropped to the platform with a thud, but not even a little stumble. Tony landed much more lightly next to her, and threw an arm around her shoulder. "Genetics, baby," he cheered. "That was perfect."

"Well, maybe not perfect."

"Hey, none of that crap," he chastised. "You were great today."

"Well, I had good teachers."

"One good teacher. And Rhodey."

Darcy whacked him in the stomach with the back of her hand, but she laughed. "I had fun."

"Yeah, me, too. We've gotta do that more often." He gave her a little shake and let go to step out of his suit. Darcy started to follow when the doors opened and Clint jogged out.

"Wait, I want to see the suit," he called and ran over to them, skidding to a halt in front of Darcy. "Huh, you look taller."

"I am taller in the suit."

Clint gave her a slow look over and circled around behind before stepping back in front. "Kinda on the nose, huh?" He tapped the SHIELD logo on her shoulder.

"That was the point," she said, pulling off her helmet and shaking her braided hair free of the armor. 

The sniper gave her a considering look. "You're really going to kick that hornet's nest, huh?"

"They're the ones doing the kicking," she said, tilting her chin up. "I'm going to make sure they know who the hornet is."

Tony crossed his arms, torn and unhappy. He wasn't SHIELD's biggest fan, particularly after the fall, and he was definitely not on the Bucky bandwagon, but _real_ SHIELD touched his kid and that was too far. He'd wanted to give them an Iron Man visit, but she told him she promised May they'd stay out of it for now. 

He glanced at Darcy and settled for saying, "I don't know how this is all going to shake out, but I trust Phil more than I trust any of those other idiots."

"Aww, you called him Phil," Darcy snickered.

"Tell him and I'll disinherit you," he told her with a bright grin and a dark tone. Then he looked at Clint and shrugged. "Besides, Darcy's got their number. You don't screw with a Stark."

Clint watched them both for a moment before offering his own shrug. "Alright. Well, Darce, when you start the war, just let me know when and where. I've got your back."

"Aw, thanks, Barton. I'm still hoping Phil gets it straightened out, though. And besides, I maybe tapped into my inner Fury Jr. and ordered Morse and May to fix it. So … "

"Morse," Clint repeated blandly. "Bobbi … Morse?"

Darcy gave him an innocent smile. "Yeah. You know her?"

Clint's face fell into a sour frown. "Maybe I'll show you the scars some day."

"Will it involve you stripping?"

Clint held out his arms and preened. "Large bills only, please. I've got some self-respect." Darcy pumped her fist and let out a 'woot'. 

"Darce," Tony warned with a glower. 

"Yeah?"

"Don't make me throw Barton off the Tower."

"Man, why do you always have to threaten the man-candy?" Darcy grumped and stuck her lower lip out at her father. "So, what do you think of the suit? Say nice words so Tony won't toss you."

Clint bared his teeth in a broad, cocky grin. "You'd catch me, though, right?"

She snorted a laugh and commanded the suit to retract so she could step out. "Maybe don't trust the girl who's only been flying a couple hours to stop you from a plummety death."

"I've got faith." Clint said and glanced at Tony with a grin. "Looks good. I guess I'm just surprised you chose to SHIELD it up."

"Sure as hell wasn't me," Tony grumbled and dismissed the suits back to storage, then the three of them started into the building. 

"Dad," she murmured, trying to still the grumpiness. How much of his issues with SHIELD had to do with her, she wondered. He worried, and her job had given him more than one rough night. Of course, that made him an enormous hypocrite, because she'd lost plenty of sleep over him, too. 

He sighed and nudged her into the elevator then followed, slinging his arm around her neck and bringing her close enough to press a rough kiss to her temple. "Look, you're better than SHIELD deserves."

"Dad," she said again.

"No, no, I mean it. But, if anybody's gonna make them worth you, then it's you."

Craning her head, she looked up at him, took in the wariness in his face, the conflict still there, but the pride, too. "I want them to be better."

"Then you'll do it," he said firmly. Clint stood silently in the corner, staring up at the ceiling, pretending he wasn't stuck, standing awkward and forgotten, to one side of the family moment. Darcy glanced at him and smirked.

"Okay, so …" She licked her bottom lip and glanced back at her father. "In the spirit of rebuilding SHIELD into something not sucky, maybe now's the time to mention how, before all this coup crap, I talked to Phil. We need a new New York base."

"Pick a floor, kid," Tony said, waving his hand at the walls. 

"No, not here. It's too obvious. I mean, Phil's gone a long way towards fixing government relationships and whatnot, but we're not there yet. I'm thinking something subtle."

"Subtle," Tony repeated, trying out the word like it was some sort of strange, foreign slang. 

"How subtle?" Clint asked. 

The elevator dropped them on the penthouse floor, and Tony and Darcy headed for the bar. Clint trotted along behind them, ignoring Tony's hard side-eye. 

"How subtle?" He repeated. 

"Like, as subtle as possible," she said, hopping up onto a bar stool. "I mean, the last one left a pretty nasty, pretty obvious crater in the middle of mid-town. We're thinking something below ground, with like cover businesses above."

"That's why you keep going out into Brooklyn?" Tony asked, pouring himself a scotch. He waved the bottle at her and she shook her head.

"That was only scouting. I wasn't keeping it from you," she said quickly. "I just wanted to get a picture of what we might need and what sort of space was available out there before I brought it up."

"I was just wondering, Darce." He chewed on his mustache and stared at his glass. "I thought you were up to something with Barnes."

"You should have said something." She prayed, honestly and truly prayed, for the day when the subject of Bucky Barnes did not put up a wall of tension and friction between her and her father. There was so much hurt and history she had no idea how to navigate, though. The Winter Soldier killed his parents. There was no getting around that; they might not have proof, but they all knew it. Nothing she could say was going to make this better for Tony, and it felt dishonest, like some sort of betrayal, to even try. He had a right to his hurt, and she had no right to try to minimize that, not even by pointing out that Bucky wasn't that weapon anymore. 

"I was waiting on you."

Darcy sighed and crossed her arms on the bar. "Well, we were just looking at property. Nothing more sneaky or scandalous, I promise."

"Both of you."

"Yes, dad, sometimes both of us," she exclaimed. Sensitivity to his pain, didn't mean she wasn't frustrated by the situation. "And sometimes just me. Hey, how about we go back to where we didn't talk about Bucky, because that's always better, huh?" Darcy suggested hopefully. "This isn't about him, anyway. It's about SHIELD."

"Fine," Tony grumbled and took a large swallow of his scotch. "What do you want for dinner?"

"I don't care. We could go out."

"Can I come?" Clint asked brightly. 

"No," Tony said, but it was absent, almost reflexive. He could moan and mutter about the sniper all he wanted, but Darcy thought he actually liked Clint. He kept inviting the sniper over to test new arrows, and she'd seen more than a few pieces of footage where Tony left the fight to pluck Clint off precarious and crumbling perches and teetering buildings. 

Pouring himself another scotch, Tony stared thoughtfully at the amber liquid. "No, if we're going to talk SHIELD, it should be here. How's Italian sound?"

"I love Italian," Clint chirped, ignoring the flat look Tony tossed him. 

"Barton," Darcy asked, amused but grateful. His presence kept things from going too heavy. "What are you doing?"

"Hanging?"

"Don't you have your own apartment?"

"Yes." He narrowed his eyes at her. "You know, the one you keep breaking into."

She waved a hand and scoffed, "I haven't broken in in months."

"I know. I miss you." He dropped his head and looked up at her from under his eyelashes. 

Darcy laughed and Tony rolled his eyes and pulled out his phone. "Alright, I'm calling Rafele's. You want your usual, kid?"

"Yes, please. Get Clint the pork chop thing, I think he'll like it."

"He's not invited."

"Aw, dad, let him stay." She pointed at Clint's pouty face. "Look how sad he is."

"On one condition," Tony said, holding up his finger. "You stop freaking adopting assassins."

Darcy drew her lips down into an uncertain frown. "How are we defining assassin?"

"The traditional way, Darce," Tony said, exasperated, but there was humor in his face again. 

"Just say yes," Clint hissed in her ear. "Now that you've said it, I totally need that pork chop, Lewis."

"Fine, yes." She batted Clint away and smiled up at her father. "I promise not to adopt any more assassins."

She and Tony stared each other down for a long moment before he finally relented and ordered dinner. When the order was in, he waved them over to the couches. 

"So, New York base. What are you thinking?" He asked as he settled himself. Darcy sat next to him and pulled her knee up onto the cushion. Clint perched on the back of the love-seat. 

"Well … actually, hold on." Darcy lunged for the tablet on the table and keyed it on. "Okay, so we've found some places. This one, four stories, a full basement, 56,000 square feet. It was a washing machine factory, or something. And it's on a lot with three other buildings. I think I could maybe try to buy those, too."

"Wait, wait, with what money?" Tony asked, a suspicious glint in his eyes.

"I've got money," Darcy told him, feeling defensive and not quite sure why. Maybe it was because she never actually spent it, and now she was talking about spending enough that the numbers were starting to look fake, like she was killing it at Monopoly or something. 

Tony gave her an impatient look. "I know you have money. You're not spending your money on a SHIELD base."

"SHIELD doesn't have the money to fund—"

"You are not tapping into your accounts for this," Tony said, raising his voice. Clint widened his eyes to a comical degree and blinked at her, anticipating her move, like he was watching a boxing match and Tony'd just landed an ugly blow. 

"Okay, now, wait a minute," she said, her own voice rising. "It's my money. And, if you'd let me finish, we fleeced Hydra last month for a good chunk of change; Phil's giving us some of it. But, we want to use that for the base operations. I'm thinking that I buy the property and then lease it back to SHIELD."

Tony scratched at his beard and took the tablet from her. Clint sighed and grumbled to himself, climbing off the love-seat to move his perch to the arm of the couch next to Darcy. He leaned over to look at the building. 

"What's 56,000 square feet go for in Brooklyn?" He asked. 

"12 million," Darcy said with a shrug.

Clint coughed and wavered on his perch. "Holy shit."

"That's cheap," she assured him. And it was. It was amazingly cheap, and the price had come down a few million from the original listing. 

Tony made a scoffing noise and pointed to the listing. "It's cheap because it's in fucking Brownsville."

"So what? It's good space." Maybe it wasn't the best neighborhood, but for God's sake, it would be a SHIELD base. Hell, maybe the neighborhood could use a nice, secure spot. Maybe you get crime to drop a little, and businesses come back, and then there are jobs, and crime drops some more. It's community investment. Via confiscated terrorist funds and shady intelligence agency operations. Win-win.

"Too far," Tony grunted. He scrolled through her file of listings and notes. There were quite a few. "Jarvis, map all this, throw it up on the screen for us."

Jarvis did as requested, and the wall screen came to life with a satellite image of Brooklyn covered in red dots. Tony set about opening each listing, whereupon he would snark about the location or the property itself, and then move on to the next. Darcy propped her chin on her hand and let him have his fun.

"Why Brooklyn?" Clint asked.

"Not a subject for discussion," Darcy said quietly. 

"Why not?"

"Because it's not." Clint chewed on that for a second and then gave her a slow nod of understanding. 

Tony dismissed the next location with a laugh. "Four brownstones that should've been condemned a decade ago? Come on, kid."

"What?" She demanded with a pout and hint of petulance.

"Are you allergic to Manhattan?" He waved at the map, taking in the noticeable lack of dots along the East River. Nothing from Williamsburg to Red Hook; the closest property she'd marked was on the far edge of Gowanus. 

"I'm allergic to the property prices."

"You were going to spend 12 million on a craphole in Brownsville!"

"For 56,000 square feet, a 10,000 square foot basement, and a rear loading yard that exited under the tracks."

"That's not bad, actually," Clint muttered. Darcy held out a hand to him in a gesture that said, 'yes, thank you'.

"Shut up, Barton," Tony said with a glare. "Okay, well, response-wise, you need to be closer to Manhattan."

"Regretfully," Clint said, "I am forced to agree with Stark."

Tony made a face, not sure he liked saying anything the sniper agreed with, and stared at the map. "Lease it back to SHIELD, huh?"

"I'm thinking," she said with a shrug. "I'm not such a pushover that I'm just going to gift SHIELD millions. I'm not donating to the charitable fund for displaced spies." She looked up at Clint and gave him an obnoxious little smile. "Well, except for Barton here, but he's such a sadsack—"

"You know what, Lewis?" Clint reached out and poked her in the shoulder while she laughed. 

Tony scanned across the map, zooming in on a couple locations, pulling out and sliding over to another. "Navy Yard?"

"Too … commercial?" She said, trying to explain why it was off the list. "I mean, like way too many people. I tried to avoid dense residential areas as much as possible. Not always totally doable, but if I could nudge it onto the edge of an industrial area or something."

"Yeah, you're pinched in. What about Queens?"

"No."

"Why?" He pressed, eyes narrowed. 

"The whining would be too much for me to take," she admitted with a grimace, waiting for Tony to have a snit fit over Bucky again. He surprised her, though, and accepted it as he turned back to the map.

"You're building the base," he said after a moment.

"Somebody has to."

"Hill."

"No," Darcy said with a shake of her head. Hill was still Fury's, and besides she had some idea that the other woman would probably end up back in DC. Or, in command of Fury's secret fucking helicarrier. God, that was going to drive her nuts. Jackass. 

Tony thought for a moment and then something clicked in his head, and the tight edge to his expression lifted. He grinned at her. "I like it. I like it a lot."

"See?" She said, holding out her arms, relief washing over her. "I was going to come to you when I had a better idea of how it's going to go. I promise."

"No, no, I get it," he said, straightening up, still grinning. "Get your ducks in a row. Then knock 'em all down, huh? You're a genius, kid."

"I don't get it," Clint said. 

"No? Too bad." Tony's phone chimed and he waved at Clint. "Hey, dinner's here, go get that for us."

"What? Why? I want to get _this_ , though," Clint protested with a whine. "What's the genius plan?"

"Go get the food, Barton," Tony told him in a tone that said he wasn't in the mood for an argument. "The Starks need a minute."

"Sure, sure," Clint grumbled, climbing off the couch. "Leaving two Starks alone to plot is _such_ a good idea. The world will _totally_ thank me for this. 'Were you there when they decided to put a death laser on the moon?' Why, yes, yes I was, but I left to get manicotti."

When Clint had gone, mumbling to himself the entire way to the elevator, Tony turned to Darcy. "I thought it was just the armor, you making a point, throwing a little weight around. I liked it, but this… How long have you been planning this?"

"Not that long, honestly. Not like a formal plan," she insisted. "But, I guess since the fall, there's been this … I don't know, feeling. Like, if we come out of this, if SHIELD stands back up, it has to be right. I have to make sure it's right."

"Howard's mess is not on you to clean up," Tony told her with uncharacteristic gentleness. 

"I kind of think it is," she said thoughtfully, rubbing a finger along her lip while she gazed at the map. "I think we've got a duty, dad. The world needs the Avengers, and it needs SHIELD." 

Tony considered her for a long few seconds, but he smiled again and shook his head, impressed and a little bemused. "It's a hell of a foothold you're giving yourself, Darce."

"If my afternoon with _real_ SHIELD showed me anything," she groused with a sour twist to her lips, "it's that there's not a lot of people I trust with SHIELD."

"So, you're going to build up the New York base, plant your flag, and —"

"And let them all know where I stand."

Letting out a long breath, Tony leaned back and shoved a hand through his hair. "Barton's right, you are going to start a war."

"I'm trying to stop one. This can't keep happening," she argued back, nudging him in the thigh with her knee. "Before the fall, I was just another agent, and, you know what? That was totally fine with me. But, that's not where we are now; I'm not just another agent anymore. Phil's doing his best, but if he's got to keep fighting off little rebellions like this, he's never going to get anywhere, and the next time something big and ugly happens, who's going to stop it?"

"Okay, but to most of them, you are still just another agent," Tony pointed out. 

"Phil's team knows who I am. Well, most of them. I don't know if Mack and Hunter know. If Mack wasn't 9 feet tall I'd tell him and then punch him. I guess I can just kick him in the shins."

"That's what the suit's for, sweetheart," Tony laughed. 

"Oh, right! Oh my God. That will be awesome. Note to self." Darcy ticked a finger in the air. "And when I staged that little mini coup, I told Agent Morse who I was, and then ordered her to fix it. So … not sure if she's going to tell the rest of them. I'm actually really interested to see what she does with that information," she mused, thoughtful and genuinely curious. Whichever choice she made, and the reason behind it, would tell Darcy an awful lot about the other agent. 

"Aside from the _real_ SHIELD crap, I like her. She's not all knee-jerk asshole, not like the rest of them. Seems smart, sharp, and it looked like May respected her, even if she wasn't really happy about Bobbi's choices. Plus, mentioning her makes Clint's face go all growly. So, that's worth it."

"Glad you got your priorities straight," he said with a dry laugh. 

"Hey, trying to make a fair assessment here," she shot back. 

"Okay. So, I like this. I said that, but I'll say it again. I think you're scrapping for a fight, but you know that, don't you?"

"Yeah," she agreed. "But, I think it's a fight that has to happen."

"Probably. I take it you're not running the base," he observed, raising an eyebrow at her.

"No, I think somebody more experienced would be better. I'll work with Phil on it."

"But, you own the base, meaning you run the running of the base, and that's why I really like this." He threw an arm around her shoulders. "Damn fine maneuvering, kid."

"Thank you," she said with a hint of modesty. It was never her intent to elbow her way into a position of power within the organization, but if everybody was going to keep making the same damned stupid mistakes, and if she was going to keep being caught in the middle of their messes, then she was going to start throwing her own version of a temper tantrum — which mostly meant she would get herself dug in and dare people to try and knock her back. And, yes, she'd put up a hell of a fight when they did. 

"I want you to notice how I ignored how often you said 'we' when talking about all this," Tony told her, his voice easy-going and conversational, but it was a leading comment. 

She grimaced and slipped her arm around his waist to give him a hug of appreciation. "I totally noticed."

"I, honest to God, don't know what to say about that, kid." He looked tired, regretful, and something along the lines of truly pained. 

"I don't either," she groaned, dropping her head onto his shoulder. "I wish I did."

"Yeah," he said with a sigh. "You like him, don't you?"

"I do," she admitted. Because, damn it, she _really_ liked him. She felt solid with Bucky in a way she didn't with almost anybody else. When he was at her side, she was confident she could take on anything. "But, I won't ask you to like him, or even tolerate him. I know that's way too much."

"Yeah, well, I'm working on tolerating." He squeezed her shoulder and sat up. "Okay, so, bring the base closer. We'll look around Williamsburg down to downtown Brooklyn, it's worth checking near the Navy Yards, too."

"So expensive," she moaned, her frugal Lewis side twisting in agony. She'd seen a property in Williamsburg, just a narrow patch of dirt where a brownstone once stood, with an asking price of three million. Her brain actually shut down for a minute, and she'd stood there and stared at it like it was the most incomprehensible thing she'd ever seen in her life. It's entirely possible it was. 

"Whatever. I'll go in with you," Tony said with an unconcerned wave of his hand. "You'll need a shell company, anyway. We'll call it a real estate development partnership. We can meet with Pepper about it when she gets in on Tuesday."

The elevator dinged behind them and Clint dashed in, a large box in his arms. "What did I miss? Did I miss something good? I did, didn't I?"

Darcy snickered. "The giant, super awesome moon laser is still on hold. You didn't miss anything."

He placed set the box on the coffee table and gave her a testy huff. "Right. You going to tell me what the genius plan is?" 

Tony laughed a little and beamed at Darcy. "Sure, Darce here is angling to take over SHIELD."

"Well, not exactly," she protested. "I have faith in Phil."

"Oh, so I was right," Clint said, sounding surprised. "Well, okay. So, yeah, just tell me when and where. You've got Tash, too. So … you know."

"That's why we keep you around, Barton," Tony said with a snort, "your eloquence."

"Screw you, Stark. Hey, you got beer?"

"Of course I have beer," Tony told him, affronted, as he stood to walk back over to the bar. "You want one, kid?"

"Yeah," she said, opening up the cartons of food. Clint snatched his pork chop out of her hands and retook his perch. "Geez, Barton."

"I'm hungry." He grabbed a plastic knife and fork and balanced the carton on his knees. "So, what did I miss about the base?"

"Nothing, just dad insisting again it should be closer to Manhattan." She shuddered and made a face. "So, I guess I start over."

"It's not that bad," Clint told her, giving her a 'buck up' nudge with his foot. "You've narrowed it down, at least."

"Ugh."

Tony handed around the beers and picked up his own carton. "If you're going to do this right, you can't bargain-shop for property. Logistics, tactical consideration, that's all got to take priority over price."

"Fine, fine, you win." Darcy jabbed her fork in her father's direction. "But, I've got some guidelines of my own."

Tony grinned at her. "Then lay 'em out, kid, and let's get hunting. The bad guys and the bureaucratic assholes aren't going to wait around for you to get your act together."

"Fine, number one — _subtle_. Number two — no really, _subtle_. Number three — super, hella subtle. Number four —"

"I get it, I get it," Tony laughed. "Jarvis open a new file. SHIELD New York, version two."

"File opened," Jarvis reported.

"Is this a working dinner?" Clint asked. "I mean, do I get paid for this?"

"Ask your boss," Tony said, jerking his chin at Darcy.

"No," Darcy said, smiling sweetly over at Clint. 

"Wow, you suck."

"Oh relax, Barton. I'll give you free drinks at the bar."

"What bar?"

"The bar we put over the SHIELD base."

"There's going to be a bar? That is the best idea I've ever heard." He grinned at her in approval. "Okay, so…where are we at?"

Tony pulled up a page of real estate listings in Williamsburg. "Right. Let's talk secret bases."


End file.
